{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

“Hey, I just photo-bombed your selfie!” Five very Vanilla Ice moments at the Student Showcase

Earlier this week, I noted that the Palm Beach Film and Television Commission had planned to honor their invitation to Rob “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle to present two awards at the ceremony at the Palm Beach International Film Festival’s Student Showcase of Film at Boca Raton’s Lynn University. This, of course, was in light of his arrest last month on residential burglary charges from a home near the one he’s renovating for his “The Vanilla Ice Project” show on DIY Network.

The PBFTC told him they wanted him there, and there he was, right on time Thursday morning, chatting with fans (and at least one smart-alek robot), quoting himself onstage, talking about supporting the dreams of young people, recording video for his show and generally smiling a lot. Five random moments:

1) Because it’s a student film festival, there were a lot of kids taking selfies on and near the red carpet of themselves, various finalists and celebrities, including “American Idol”‘s adorable Emily Brooke and of Ice, who not only volunteered for as many people as wanted to snap them, but inserted himself in some others. “Hey, I photo-bombed your selfie!” he cheerfully informed a lad, who grinned and didn’t seem to mind.

2) I heard him mention that he was happy to be at Lynn, even though it was very early for a former rapper to be awake, so I asked him why. The answer was charmingly and convincingly “We Are The World”-y: “I love to see people dreaming, love to see people with their eyes on the prize, who know that they’re not just about Hollywood. There’s a lot of talent here in Florida.”

3) His presence in the audience inspired quite a lot of jocularity (I love big words! Pass it on!) from the stage. Host Frank Licari noted his dancing (You know you can still do it) and there was an attempt to get the crowd to chant “Ice Ice Baby” to be captured on video. (The result was kind of lame. You have work to do, Crowd.)

4) Because he’s a TV, video and music star, there were a lot of weird celebrity moments surrounding Ice and, improbably, me. When I was waiting backstage to present the Audience Award, a nice stage director who didn’t recognize me asked “Are you with Vanilla Ice?” because why wouldn’t he have an assistant back there? (He didn’t, and it has been a long time since anyone confused my oldness for part of a celebrity entourage, so thank you, Nice Stage Director.) And when I was leaving, Ice was out back presumably taping stuff for his show. A producer told me they got good stuff from our chat on the red carpet and asked me to sign a release in case they wanted to use it on “The Vanilla Ice Project.” Show…can you photoshop me?

5) Vanilla Ice is apparently playing Mark Twain in an upcoming Netflix series by Adam Sandler. I don’t know what to say about this, except that Vanilla Ice is playing Mark Twain in an upcoming Netflix series by Adam Sandler.

View Comments
0

There are no comments yet. Be the first to post your thoughts. Sign in or register.